Lille vs AS Roma 03/08/19

3 August 2019

Lille will host AS Roma to the Stade Pierre-Mauroy for a friendly meeting, with the visitors looking to post their fourth straight win under the new boss Paulo Fonseca.

It will be Les Dogues’ seventh pre-season friendly (W3, D2, L1), as they go into this clash off the back of a narrow 1-0 loss to Celta Vigo. All three of Lille’s victories in a pre-season have seen them score precisely two goals, with two of them ending with the same 2-1 scoreline after a goalless stalemate at the break. Meanwhile, the remaining three Lille’s friendlies have produced under 2.5 goals, with Christophe Galtier’s men failing to find the net twice in the process. Still, four of Lille’s final five games of last season have produced over 3.5 goals, although just two have seen both teams score.

On the other hand, the Giallorossi have so far played out three low-profile friendlies, against the Italian lower-league sides, registering all three wins with a +11 goal difference (S13, C2). Importantly for Paulo Fonseca, his team has maintained a run of good form from the final stage of the 2018-19 campaign that has seen them put together nine games without a loss (W5, D4). Still, most of those games were short of entertainment, as just three of them have featured over 2.5 goals, with Roma restricting their rivals to a maximum of one goal per match on eight occasions along the way. Also, they have netted 2+ match goals only four times across the same period, failing to find the net once though.